Earlier this month, CCUA sent a letter to the federal Minister of Finance outlining the credit union sector’s priorities for the regulation of stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and other digital assets. 

Part of a coordinated national approach, CCUA has shared similar letters with provincial governments, except for British Columbia, where CCUA intends to share its recommendations following the October 24 provincial election. 

CCUA’s central message is that emerging digital asset frameworks should be harmonized, proportionate, and competitively neutral. Provincially and federally regulated credit unions should have fair opportunities to participate in digital financial services and not be placed at a disadvantage relative to banks, fintechs, payment service providers, crypto-asset platforms, or foreign stablecoin issuers. 

The letter recommends that governments: 

• Support a harmonized approach to stablecoin and digital asset regulation across federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions; 

• Prioritize competitive neutrality and ensure credit unions have fair access to emerging digital financial infrastructure; 

• Provide clear legislative, regulatory, and supervisory authority for credit unions to engage in permitted stablecoin and digital asset activities where prudent and appropriate; 

• Ensure that regulatory requirements are proportionate to an institution’s size, complexity, business model, and risk profile, including by enabling participation through appropriate collaborative and partnership models; 

• Apply the principle of same activity, same risk, same regulation, so that comparable activities and risks are subject to comparable regulatory expectations regardless of the technology or type of provider involved; 

• Clarify the treatment of tokenized deposits and deposit-like digital instruments, including their implications for prudential oversight, accounting, consumer protection, and deposit insurance; 

• Prevent deposit-like activity from migrating outside the prudentially regulated financial system through direct or indirect incentives, including interest, yield, rewards, rebates, or similar economic benefits, while requiring clear consumer disclosures regarding the nature of stablecoins and the absence of deposit insurance protections where applicable; and 

• Support responsible experimentation and regulatory engagement through sandboxes, pilot programs, supervised testing environments, and structured stakeholder consultation. 

CCUA will continue engaging with federal and provincial governments, regulators, and other stakeholders to support a clear and coordinated framework that protects consumers and financial stability while enabling responsible innovation, competition, and credit union participation in emerging digital financial markets. 

Credit unions can review the full recommendations here.